Hammocks are an increasingly popular way to relax in the outdoors amid sunshine and fresh air. Extended between trees or in a hammock stand, hammocks provide a useful and handsome addition to the backyard or patio. Hammocks are most commonly made of white rope or white canvas. The humans that occupy such hammocks are not always clean. Their clothes may be soiled and greasy; they may spill a beverage; the pets that often join them in the hammock may have muddy fur. For many reasons a hammock may become soiled and stained. When this happens the hammock, while still useful, is no longer such a handsome addition. It is unsightly and unsanitary.
The obvious solution is to launder the hammock, since the rope and/or fabric which make up the hammock are readily subject to laundering with soap, bleach, disinfectant, etc. The obstacle to such laundering of a hammock is that it includes spreader bars which are long and rigid (usually made of wood). There is a spreader bar on each end of the hammock between the hammock bed and the clew. It is the function of the spreader bar to keep the hammock bed in a laterally extended position. It cannot be eliminated, but the hammock cannot be laundered with the spreader bar in place.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention, to provide a hammock in which the spreader bars can effectively function while the hammock is in use, but can be easily removed when the hammock needs laundering.